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After dropping an agonizing five-set match to Virginia Tech on Friday, the Virginia volleyball team was in position to take two sets off of Wake Forest and potentially pick up the victory on Sunday. Both the second and third sets were tied at 23, but the Demon Deacons prevailed in both en route to a 25-20, 25-23, 25-23 victory over the Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium.
Brooklyn Borum led Virginia with 11 kills, five digs, and registered a season-best .391 hitting percentage. After UVA fell behind 7-2 to start the first set, Borum helped Virginia close the gap with five kills in the set. The Cavaliers got as close as 22-20 before the Demon Deacons won three straight to close out the opening set.
Virginia won five of the first seven points to start the second set, including a 4-0 run powered by back-to-back kills by Jayna Francis. Wake Forest stormed back to take a 12-9 lead, though. UVA responded with a 3-0 run to make it 12-12 and then neither team would lead by more than a single point until the end of the second set. The two teams traded one-point advantages until Brooklyn Borum brought the Hoos even at 23-23 on another kill. It was a critical moment in the match, as just two points separated Virginia from tying the match at one set apiece or falling behind two sets to none. Wake Forest took the next two points to take a commanding lead in the match.
To their credit, the Cavaliers never quit. The Hoos started off the third set strong and built a 7-3 lead. UVA held on to its advantage through the first part of the set and led 15-11. Wake then erased that deficit with a 4-0 run to tie the set at 15-15. The teams traded points until the Demon Deacons began to pull away with a 23-19 lead. It would have been easy for Virginia to simply fold at that point, already trailing 2-0 in the match. But the Hoos fought back, scoring four straight points behind a pair of kills by Grace Turner to tie the set at 23-23. Wake Forest showed impressive composure under the pressure imposed by the Cavaliers, as the Demon Deacons again won two straight points to shut down the comeback attempt by UVA and clinch the match.
Abby Tadder and Grace Turner registered seven kills each and Turner added four digs. Kristen Leland anchored the defense with 13 digs, while Ashley Le recorded 19 assists and seven digs.
With the loss, UVA falls to 8-14 overall and 1-11 in the ACC.
On paper, Virginia has struggled mightily since the beginning of ACC play, losing 11 of their first 12 conference games. But the Cavaliers have rarely been entirely outmatched beyond a couple of games against top-tier ranked opponents. The Hoos were a couple of points away from winning both Friday’s match against Virginia Tech and Sunday’s match against Wake Forest and they showed an admirable level of persistence and grit to fight back and give themselves a chance in both matches.
Up next, Virginia will take another crack at snapping the losing streak with two more home matches next weekend against Boston College on Friday and Syracuse on Sunday.
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